Bowling Green, KY – Bears volleyball got back to work Friday with a pair of neutral site games at the Vette City Classic in Bowling Green. Florida College trumped the Bears in the early afternoon 3-0 before falling victim to Reinhardt 3-0 in game two.

Game 1 | Florida College 3 UPIKE 0

Alex Van Dyke and Erin Ende led the scoring attack, totaling five kills a piece. Marianne Negron Cordero, Erin Ende, and Alex Van Dyke posted a block each while Cheyenne Martinez recorded a team high 16 assists.

Florida College jumped ahead in the opening set, building a 4-1 lead before the Bears battled back with a 3-0 run led by several solid serves by Mikela Cook. Erin Ende put the first two kills on the board, the second assisted by Daniela Hernandez as the Bears trailed by a pair. Mistakes played the next few rallys as the Falcons shot ahead to a 15-8 lead before back to back kills from newcomer Alex Van Dyke made it a three point game. The Bears would score just once more as Florida College went up 1-0.

The Bears fell behind early in the second set, striking first via a kill by Kiara Warrens to make it 9-6 Falcons. Cheyenne Martinez struck with her first kill, while Hernandez landed two in the final stretch.

Van Dyke inked three more kills on the stat sheet in the third set and Mikela Cook fired an ace in the early going. The Bears fell behind 14-5 before launching a comeback, tying the set at 17 with a block from Alex Van Dyke and Erin Ende. Ende capitalized on a setup from Martinez shortly after, giving the Bears a 19-18 lead. Florida College pulled ahead in the final stretch to win 25-22.

Game 2 | Reinhardt 3 UPIKE 0

The story was much the same in the second game of the day, showing more high points for the Bears. Capitalizing on Reinhardt's mistakes would aid the Bears in several sets, especially set three which saw a late run from UPIKE. Vucetic sprung back into the scoring effort, recording three kills to match Leigh Johnson for the team lead.

Johnson struck on a dime from Martinez early in the first set to tie the game before the same duo gave the Bears a 5-4 lead on the following rally. The Bears stayed within four the majority of the set thanks in part to service errors from the Eagles, but would fall behind 23-13 before Genesis Santiago Melendez aced to end the drought.

Set two went in favor of Reinhardt, taking a commanding lead early on while the Bears struggled to gain momentum. The Bears lone kill in the set came by way of Vucetic.

The final set looked to be leaning in favor of Reinhardt from the start but the Bears found some gas in the tank halfway through, tying the set at 10. Johnson landed a kill and an ace back to back and a few moments later, Ende scored two quickly to keep the Bears in the game. After coming within one, Reinhardt charged out of a timeout with an 8-2 run to claim the win.

The Bears get back on the court tomorrow for day two of the Vette City Classic, starting with a match against McPherson at 10 AM. Saturday's game two is slated for 12:30 PM against IU-Southeast.